Today, Peter Swire, Georgia Institute of Technology Scheller College of Business professor and senior counsel in Alston & Bird’s Privacy & Data Security Group, offers a historical primer on bulk data collection in this piece for the IAPP.
Swire’s article follows two significant events in the past week potentially affecting the U.S. National Security Administration’s bulk collection of telephone metadata, a program revealed by Edward Snowden. On May 7, the Second Circuit issued a decision declaring the NSA’s program unlawful under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. Further, yesterday, on May 13, the House of Representatives approved the USA FREEDOM Act which would limit bulk data collection.
Peter Swire’s article discusses both events from his unique vantage point having served as one of five members of President Obama’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technology, formed in the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations regarding surveillance activities by the NSA.